Operating your website without updates is like riding your car without maintaining it. If you think of it, the website update cost might be cumulatively cheap than covering an accident. At times if things go wrong, we usually have the insurance cover to help bail us out. The insurance can be compared to hiring a specialist or a company to support your website. There are many reasons you should maintain your website, and I’ll explain why it needs to be regular.
Let me kick off by mentioning there are five types of Website Updates:-
- Security updates
- Bug fixes
- New features
- Compatibility
- Performance
Security Updates
First, we have security updates. Let’s say your website is designed using WordPress or any other content management system, and then a security update is released. If you’re keen, you will notice that they usually list some of the bugs that have been fixed. That makes it easier for the attackers to know where the vulnerabilities are with the previous versions. In turn, they can quickly attack your site. Nothing is worse than someone’s data being misused, and the source of their data is your vulnerable website.
Bug Fixes
Some updates fix bugs on the language used to develop the website or the cms. Just as security, bugs can also be a loop way to unauthorized access of data on your website. I’ll give you an example of a website that takes too much time to load, not because of its design but rather a problem with the programming language. If it takes 5 seconds to hack a website and the website takes 30 seconds to load, then that’s an extra 25 seconds for the attacker to do their thing. If the language developers notice the bug and release a fix or patch, the attacker never stands a chance.
New Feature Update
Next, we have new features type of update. This type of update, if not adhered to, might be more costly in terms of business than reputation. The security and bugs updates would dent your reputation, but for new features, you might miss out on business. We design the websites cause we want to be in business, and if it’s not serving that purpose, what’s the point. But I’ll have to give you a slight warning for this type of update; you have to ensure that it’s fully compatible before performing them, or else everything might crumble.
Compatibility Updates
Talking of compatibility, let’s say you have a new feature that has been launched and isn’t compatible with the other modules. So you’d have to hold on until the update is fully compatible with the system. It goes without saying that compatibility updates are usually crucial because they enable you to fully incorporate a new feature.
Performance Updates
Lastly, we have a performance update. As mentioned earlier, the language used to develop websites also determines how well they perform. I used to create websites using Laravel, a PHP framework, and at that time, PHP version 5.6 was the latest. The version had severe performance issues in terms of loading speeds that languages like Node.Js were better. The difference in time was a fraction of a millisecond, and one would think that is minor, but the truth is, it really shouts when many people are using the system. You start experiencing the error 404. They fixed that with PHP version 7.2, which was huge for businesses like WordPress, which runs on PHP.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it’s a no-brainer that you need to update your website regularly. Set a clear schedule of when to perform the updates, and you’ll be good to go. Every time you do, it’s like giving your website a new lease of life. Not only does it better things for you and your business, but it also protects the people who will use your systems. It might be costly, but you will bargain your way out if you know the risks because running without maintenance is as good as running a ticker time bomb.
